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Fiscal Mayhem Ahead in 2019 — and 5 Other Takes on the Election Results

Zach Gibson

By The Fiscal Times Staff

November 8, 2018

MOST POPULAR

Prepare for budget mayhem: “The budget bottom line is simple: Senate Republicans will have a very different fiscal agenda than House Democrats, and both houses’ tax and spending to-do lists will be at odds with Trump’s plans. Unless there’s a severe economic crisis that requires a fiscal policy response and allows representatives and senators to abandon their established positions, it’s hard to imagine the three sides being able to agree on much of anything over the next two years on the budget.” – Stan Collender, The Budget Guy Blog

A win for Obamacare: “Now that even more states are jumping onto the Medicaid expansion bandwagon, the ACA will be even more entrenched — further darkening Republicans’ chances of ever repealing it.” – Paige Winfield Cunningham, Washington Post

GOP will be tested on health care: “The next two years will test the strength of Republicans' alliance with the health care industry, and pharmaceutical companies in particular.” – Sam Baker, Axios

Pharma will probably be safe: “We believe this outcome will cause headline risk to drugmakers, but the Republican-controlled Senate and pharma-friendly Democrats will prevent disruptive policy change.” – Andrea Harris, an analyst with Height Securities, as quoted by Bloomberg.

A carbon tax is dead: “[O]ne striking result from Tuesday’s election is that voters in Washington state, a Democratic stronghold, soundly rejected a proposed carbon tax by a margin of 56 to 44 percent. This raises the prospect that the carbon tax may be dead as a policy for the time being, including at the state level. … Voters seem to want the progress without the pain — and not just on climate policy. It seems they are saying the same about both Obamacare and taxes more generally.” – Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg

Sweet, sweet gridlock: “Whatever your worst fears for the midterms were, gridlock is better. In fact, given the alternatives, it's arguably not so bad at all. … Things will not get more miserable at a fast pace — and at this point, I'm honestly pretty happy with that.” – Bonnie Kristian, The Week